


You've Got Mail

by jacklles



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band), 5SOS
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Lifeguards, Ashton is a lifeguard, Confusion, F/M, Making Out, Met Online, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-17
Updated: 2013-10-17
Packaged: 2017-12-29 16:04:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1007358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacklles/pseuds/jacklles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where Fletcher is a new lifeguard at the local pool and Ashton is the guy she’s been messaging for five months and Rachel—for once in her life—is torn between two incredible guys, one for his looks the other for his personality. <br/>Can't a girl catch a break and maybe get both?</p>
            </blockquote>





	You've Got Mail

**Author's Note:**

> My first 5SOS fan fiction, I hope it is worthy!  
> This was originally written for a friend, Rachel, when she was crazy about Ashton. Unfortunately for Ashton, her attention has moved to a certain Mr. Hemmings and so here it is for the general public!  
> Let me know if I should do more 5SOS fan fics okay?
> 
> I also made a picture set of it on my blog ofwriters.tumblr.com check me out yo
> 
> There is no capitalization because I copied it from my blog and it decapitalized everything and I'm too lazy to do it over again, I'm sorry it if annoys you :/

_dear ashtree94_

_how has your summer been? i wish i could visit but alas, college is literally demanding all of my life savings. :( to answer you, the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me was one time i accidentally peed on bill clinton. when i was three he was campaigning for something in my home town and my mother wanted him to kiss my fuzzy head and yeah i was scared of him so i just kind of let it all out. and the fact that nothing more exciting has happened since then tells you something huh. also, can you surf? kind of a random question, but i was just wondering. ugh, my little sister is yelling at me, i’ll talk to you later, kay?_

_—bedazzledrach12_

rachel shut her laptop just as melody scampered into her room—uninvited as per usual, her light periwinkle blue dress swishing softly—twirling a flower of the same color and giggling in just the right way that made rachel want to claw her eyes out.

“ _what,_ ” she asked, “exactly are you doing in my room without knocking? do you have a death wish or something?”

melody only giggled and said excitedly, “you were talking to that  _boy_ , weren’t you! you slammed your laptop down right before—”

“yeah, yeah so what if i did? doesn’t mean anything and you still haven’t explained your presence yet, and if you don’t in the next twelve seconds i will use deadly force to evict you.”

melody’s ridiculously big, blue eyes crinkled and she laughed girlishly, as if her life being threatened was the funniest thing in the world. her eleven year old sister seriously needed some psychotherapy or something.

“i just came to tell you that we are going to the pool and mom says that,” she cleared her throat and in a startling good impression of their mother’s trill said, “‘you’ll become transparent soon if you don’t get more sun, dearie, so go put on that  _god awful_  tankini you bought at the mall last week. i’m just glad i don’t have to pay for your fashion choices anymore.’”

rachel sighed, she really wished her mom would stop pointing out the fact that she was literally the palest eighteen year old girl to walk the planet. like, seriously. she could see every single purple vein anywhere near the surface of her skin and yes, it was creepy but rachel didn’t really like the outside. especially the pool. there were thin, attractive girls in bikinis that she could never compete with and wet, shirtless guys that were out of her league and it  _sucked balls_. also, there was no wi-fi so she would be bored. and she didn’t know how to swim. so what was the point?

but it was summer break and rachel would prefer to go back to school  _not_  looking like a vampire, so she settled for shoving melody in the direction of her door in a half-hearted attempt to get her to leave so she could change.

“ _go_  melody, lord knows i’m not stripping in front of you.”

to rachel’s utter horror, melody gasped, jumped a little and clapped her hands together as she squealed, “so you’re actually going?! oh, i’m so happy rach!”

not even rachel’s darkest glare could dampen melody’s spirits and she skipped out of rachel’s room singing a disgustingly cheerful song, her blonde pigtails swinging wildly. even after twelve years of dealing with the literal ray of sunshine, rachel still couldn’t believe they came from the same vagina. it was a good balance though, with rachel’s darker, more sarcastic personality and humor versus melody’s bubbly charisma and charm. they were two extremes, but they hardly ever clashed. mainly because melody simply never got angry and just forgave rachel for every snide comment she’s ever made about her. if rachel  _really_ thought about it, and if she was in a particularly gushy mood (or just drunk), she would say that she didn’t deserve her sister. because her sister has been the light of her life and the only reason she came back from college for the summer after a glorious year of no parents.

it wasn’t that her mom and dad were particularly evil, it was just the simple fact that they had different visions of what rachel’s future was going to look like.

her parents wanted her to attend an in-state school, get a job that would require no travel, and have sunday dinner at their house  _every week_.

rachel couldn’t deal with that. she’s spent her entire life with her family and all she wants to do is travel, see the world, and meet new people. which was why she was a photography major at the academy of art university in california. it was also why the school was halfway across the country and she was minoring in cultural studies. nothing had fascinated her more than learning how different other people are from her, whether it was the neighbor who burned incense and practiced yoga on the front lawn or the korean foreign-exchange student at her old high school, whose voice turned sing-song whenever she broke into her mother tongue. it had frustrated her to no end that she had almost lived two whole decades and  _still_  had not traveled outside of the united states.

seriously? she hadn’t even been to alaska or hawai’i and they were  _in_  america…technically.

and that was also why she was emailing a boy from hornby (she assumed it was in america, but it seemed a lot more exotic than richmond, virginia) that her sister was  _not_  supposed to know about. she wasn’t surprised though. hardly anything melody does any more surprises her, though she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing.  

~             ~             ~

she went to the pool and didn’t have the best time. (surprise!) there were the usual amount of skinny, tan girls there, but there wasn’t even that many attractive guys, so she basically just read the whole time. when she got back she had a message from ashtree94 saying something about him going on a vacation so he won’t be able to talk for about two or three days.

during those days she was forced to go to the pool again. her mother is making her under penalty of cotillion classes. either she learns how to ballroom dance with a snotty-nosed fifteen-year old boy or she goes to the pool. she goes to the pool.

this time she came late because she was busy finishing her weekly ritual of watching an episode of  _teen wolf_  and crying over dylan o’brien. when she finally arrived melody immediately ran over from where she was reapplying sunscreen and started gushing over the new lifeguard to her. rachel was used to it. melody had her eyes on more boys than rachel did, though rachel wasn’t blind and she knew an attractive guy when she saw one.

and apparently melody had hit the jackpot with this one. once she convinced her sister to stop swooning over him long enough to point him out to her, rachel’s heart lurched a little.

“do you know when he’s on duty?” rachel asked, trying to sound nonchalant, but  _blast her_  melody saw right through it.

“rachel.” she said seriously, and rachel was alarmed to see her sister look so calm for once, so she suspected what she was about to say was important. “if you do not hit that, i swear i will hit  _you_. he looks about your age, unfortunately for me, so i will have to live vicariously through you.  _tap that fine piece of_ —”

“melody!”

“what?”

rachel was struggling between pure shock at melody’s crass language (rachel guessed she was wrong about the whole “nothing melody does any more surprises her” thing) and bursting into laughter. she settled for snorting embarrassingly loud and pushing melody unceremoniously into the pool.

at melody’s shocked scream and the splash, the life guard melody had pointed out blew his whistle and yelled at a mortified rachel, “no throwing people in the pool!”

of  _course_  he had to be australian. god, could this guy be any more unbelievably out of her league?

rachel answered her own question in about a minute when he might as well be a rock star he was so unattainable jumped into the pool and pulled out a spluttering, grinning melody.

rachel groaned when she saw how her baby sister’s arm was clutching her savior’s bicep, as if she was never gonna let go. not that rachel could blame her of course.

rachel ran over to them, dreading what either melody or the guy who was now glaring at her with his perfect face that didn’t look like it was made for glaring would say.

rachel never thought her face could get so red without the help of the sun. heat radiated off her cheeks when the boy—once he was done making sure melody was all right of course—rounded on her. she was actually having a hard time focusing on what he was saying, mainly because he had a curl that was hanging over his forehead with water dripping off of it and sliding down his tanned face.

“—be so irresponsible! even if throwing people in wasn’t against the rules, it’s obvious she couldn’t swim so  _why—_ ”

thatgot rachel’s attention.

“ _excuse me_?”

“you pushed in a little girl that didn’t know how to swim. what kind of sick person are you?”

rachel’s mouth dropped open, again struggling between laughing because of the ridiculousness of his statement and shock that he thought she was the type of person that just  _did_  that sort of thing without any reason.

“first of all” rachel said quietly, pointing a finger at his stupidly wet and golden and shirtless chest, “she’s my sister, okay? she was annoying me so i played a joke on her.  _a joke._  no need to get your balls in a twist.” the boy snorted (much more attractively than rachel had, she noticed) and was about to open his mouth when rachel continued, “and secondly, melody was  _totally_  pulling a squints* on you. she can swim better than anyone i know. she was literally  _born_ in the water,” (the boy looked kind of grossed out and rachel figured too late that that was a little tmi) “believe me when i say that she could’ve have gotten herself out of the pool if she wanted to. she just wanted you to save her.”

once rachel was done she noticed that they had attracted a crowd, and before she or melody embarrassed themselves further, rachel dragged both of them back home, muttering increasingly creative and painful death threats to melody along the way. melody only giggled a little and said dreamily, “he’s so  _strong_  rach. i just wanted him to hold me with those glorious arms of his forever.”

melody sighed, fanning herself, and rachel mimed throwing up.

rachel didn’t want to go back the next day but she didn’t want to learn about “how to chew as if she had a secret” either so hopefully the same guy wasn’t there. he was, of course. rachel tried really hard to focus on her book, but her eyes somehow found themselves back on the life guard, and it frustrated her to no end.

~             ~             ~

_rach,_

_i can call you that, right? we’ve gotten to that point in our relationship i think haha. i seriously hope someone caught you peeing on camera because ol’ billy’s reaction would have been gold. i actually don’t surf_ that _much, but i love to swim. also, we are now in the same country! different sides though_ _l i’m gonna be here for the summer, though. family’s here ‘n all and my parents made me get a summer job and so far it hasn’t gone so well. i only get rainy days off and so far it’s been disparagingly sunny so looks like we won’t be able to meet._ _l_ _l_ _l_

_—ash_

at that, rachel decided to face the fact that she will never meet the guy that seemed perfect for her (and apparently hornbywasn’t in america. who knew?), so she started on plan b, which involved her camera and the grumpy mr. gorgeous. rachel was pretty sure why he was brooding all the time now. he had to save someone from ‘drowning’ on his first day, and that didn’t bode well for the future. she hoped his mood would lighten eventually because she didn’t want all of her pictures of him to be the furrowed brow and pouting lips.

pouting lips that were literally screaming to be kissed.

ugh.

_boys._

rachel likes to think that she was practicing her future profession,  _not_  being creepy, as melody had claimed. her favorite part of him to capture was the dip of his collarbone, because whenever he got out of the pool it still had some water in it and the sun reflected off of the droplets and it was rather mesmerizing. he also had abnormally large hands that she took pictures of as well. hands with long slender fingers that if she thought about their possible skills, she would shudder and goose bumps would erupt up and down her body.

thankfully there was a patch of beautiful flowers at the base of the life guard stand so she took lots of photos of them as her cover and so what if occasionally her camera would travel a little farther than necessary and she would ‘accidentally’ get the curve of a calf muscle or the sharp jut of a pelvic bone.

she was a photographer. she took picture of beautiful things. and he was a  _beautiful_  thing. so, really, it was perfectly reasonable.

perfectly reasonable.

of course she still remembered how he yelled at her, so she was conflicted on how much compatibility mattered in a relationship. and every time after she walked home from the pool with a new set of pictures she would put them on to her computer and then check her email. she sort of felt like she was cheating on cyberspace ash with real life stud muffin (that’s what—to rachel’s immense embarrassment—her mother had called him when she went to the pool with her and melody one day. rachel hoped she hadn’t realized he was the only reason rachel had stopped complaining about going.)

on one hand, ash was funny and nice and had a lot of things in common with rachel. he wanted to travel as well, and he wanted to be a journalist; the kind that go into hotspots and warzones and write from there. at night—before the life guard came along—rachel would imagine that they would make a great team; her a photographer and him a writer. they would rule the journalism world. but other than his personality and his likes and dislikes, she really didn’t know much about him. she knew he lived in hornby and that he was one year older than her, and that he had a brother and sister, but other than that she was basically clueless. one thing they had both agreed on was not to share personal information besides the very general, like what family they had. this included that neither of them knew what the other looked like, which was a blessing and a curse. rachel could imagine him as attractive as she wanted, and he didn’t have to know that her ears turned red when she blushed or that she bit her nails when she was nervous or that she had no thigh gap.

she could imagine him with blonde hair that fell over his forehead in soft curls and with dimpled cheeks that got big when he smiled and a toned torso and a neck that she wanted to bite and lick and—

 _mother of balls_.

she was in deep. and it was  _so_  messed up.

~             ~             ~

rachel was in love with two different boys; one for his looks and the other for his personality. and she honestly had no idea who she would choose if she had the choice. 

some days rachel would pick mr. gorgeous, because she at least knew for sure that he wasn’t a pedophile or convicted criminal.

others, though, she would say a strong relationship should be based on personality, not looks. and those days were not at all depressing, either, especially as she had to keep her eyes so focused on the page of her magazine that she wasn’t able to read anything at all.

and it frustrated her to no end. emotionally and sexually frustrated, that is.

~             ~             ~

she thought she had decided on ash for sure when he had messaged her one day. her heart sunk when she read it, and even though the possibility of them actually being able to meet each other, much less making a relationship work, was slim to none, she still held on to the sliver of hope. she let it go once she saw the message:

_rach,  
i figured i should tell you this since 1) we are friends and that’s what friends do and 2) you’re a girl so you may be able to help me. there is a girl at the pool, she comes every day with her little sister. she kind of yelled at me on my first day, and even though our first meeting didn’t turn out so well, i’d like to get to know her better. i was wondering, since you’d know better, how i should approach her? i honestly would like to take her on a date, and next week the pool is closed for renovations so i was hoping we could do something then. i think i’m going to try approaching her on my breaks, but what do i say? help._

_—ash_

~             ~             ~

_ash,_

_just go up and talk to her. comment on what she’s doing, like if she’s reading a book (first ask if you can talk to her then because she might not want to be interrupted) or something then ask her about the book. when you talk to her, make sure she has no doubt of your intentions. what women hate most is trying to decipher how the guy feels. be open and honest, chicks dig it. but first more than anything, become her friend. learn about her passions so that you have things to talk about. treat her like you would your mother, because you’re supposed to respect your mother, and you must respect her. don’t afraid to be forward, because chicks also dig that. good luck_ _j_

_—rach_

_p.s. be forward, not creepy. there’s a big difference, mainly one could turn into a date and the other a punch in the face. confidence is good too, just not arrogance. **balance is key.**_

~             ~             ~

so basically she was frustratingly conflicted with herself for about a month. or until the life guard snuck up on her taking a picture of a lily that had water droplets on its petals, whose light pink color was reflecting off them _._ the effect was incredible, making the leaves look like the floor of an eighties party, disco ball and all, and rachel was glad she actually had a legitimate thing to take a picture of something beside a certain pool attendant.

“what are you doing?”

rachel swore that she did  _not_  jump two feet into the air, but thank goodness her camera strap was around her neck because she definitely would have dropped it and  _he_  would have been fully responsible for paying for any damage done.

“oh my  _god_  what is the matter with you?!”

mr. gorgeous ignored her question. “did you know that you stick your tongue out when you do that?”

“what?” if she wasn’t so frazzled from his sudden appearance, rachel would have found it amusing that neither of them had actually answered any of each other’s questions.

“you stick your tongue out when you concentrate. it’s kind of adorable.”

rachel stared, open mouthed. was she dreaming? was he aware of what he was doing or did he hit his head on the side of the pool and this was just an effect of the brain damage?

“umm thank you?”

the guy laughed a little and rachel became even more confused. who was this guy and what had he done with mr. grumpy pants? she was glad he was in a better mood and ecstatic that he was talking to her, but she was still looking around for a hidden camera somewhere, indicating it was one big joke.

“you’re welcome.” he smiled down at her and quirked a brow, “you still haven’t answered my first question. or any of them for that matter…”

“well,” she said, wondering if this was just a very realistic daydream, “i was taking a picture of a flower. what did it look like i was doing?”

the guy shrugs sheepishly, and rachel’s mouth twitches, “i dunno…honestly? i was trying to come up with a conversation starter.” rachel looked skeptical, so he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, and she did not let her eyes focus on how his bicep got big when he did it. “so….”

rachel wanted to laugh. the first thirty seconds of their conversation fooled her into thinking he wasn’t as socially inept as she was. the inherent awkwardness of the situation actually helped to make her more at ease.

“sooo…?”

“so…do you like photography?” he seemed pleased he came up with a question, but rachel won’t let him off that easy.

“obviously, if i’m doing it.”

rachel almost felt sorry for him, but she enjoyed having the upper hand too much to spare him any discomfort.

“yeah, yeah of course.” he breathed out hard, scratched at his thigh, causing his shorts to ride up and rachel almost got distracted. suddenly his face lit up and rachel jumped a little when he stuck his hand out to her, as if he just remembered the proper etiquette of basic social interaction. “my name’s fletcher.”

rachel chuckled, and shook his hand, “i’m rachel. it’s nice to meet you.” she ignored how warm and soft his hands felt and looked over to melody, who was watching their exchange intently and looked like she might come over any minute. rachel decided it was time to leave, so she said, “um, as stimulating as this conversation has been, i need to get my sister home. i’m sorry.”

fletcher looked slightly disappointed, though rachel didn’t know why, it wasn’t like she was that nice to him or anything. while she was walking away he called out, “i’ll see you around though, right?”

rachel smiled and waved, then grabbed melody’s arm and dragged her home. she also didn’t answer any of her questions. rachel didn’t want melody getting any ideas. mainly because her own imagination was wild enough for them both.

~             ~             ~

when she got back from that unsettling encounter she checked her messages and her heart jumped in her throat:

_rach,_

_my first day on the job i had to save this little girl from drowning and this other chick who was apparently her sister started yelling at me about this guy who i had no idea what she was talking about. she was cute though, her cheeks got red when she was mad and her nose scrunched up and her forehead crinkled and i sound creepy don’t i? okay i’ll stop. but that was the girl i was talking to you about. and i did what you told me and at first she thought i was creepy and weird but i think i might have a chance! so, thanks for that_ _j how’s cali by the way?_

_—ash_

_~             ~             ~_

_ash,_

_i’m glad it might work out for you, just make sure to keep your approach balanced. forward, but not creepy. confident, but not arrogant. sweet, but not sappy. it can be hard, but if she’s really worth it, you’ll figure it out_ _j i guess i forgot to tell you, but i’m not in california anymore. i moved back to my parent’s place in virginia for the summer. a little suburb outside richmond, actually. so we might not be on opposite ends of the country after all_ _j also this guy kind of came up to me today and started talking to me, and i was wondering what i should do? he’s kind of gorgeous and i have a tiny-huge crush on him and i don’t want him to think i’m a dork or anything, so like. how do i respond to his advances?_

_—rach_

~             ~             ~

rachel was not entirely sure how she felt about where her and ash’s relationship was going. she had wanted to maybe get to know him more as…as…a boyfriend? she didn’t know about that, but she did know that the fact that she was basically being friend-zoned by him hurt her more than it probably should. that was probably why she told him about fletcher instead of just stocking it up to one of those weird events that happens to her every blue moon.

but ever since ash had told her he worked at a pool, a small flame of hope flared in the back of her mind. it was tiny, and it wavered, but it was still there. she never let it grow much larger than a single flame, because she would just be setting herself up for disappointment later. but it grew almost of its own accord when fletcher approached her. the hope that maybe, _just maybe_ , they could be the same person.

but who was she kidding? there were loads of reasons why it couldn’t be possible. the most obvious was that they had different names, and the chance that the boy from hornby who had messaged her would visit the same exact neighborhood that she lived in was literally one in a million. and that hornby also just happened to be in australia, (because of his accent, you know).

so yeah. if rachel was good at math (which she wasn’t) she would try and figure out the probability of something like that actually happening, but even without it she was pretty sure the odds were somewhere near insurmountable.

but. even after logic had had its say, and had tried to put out the hope, it still dared to stay lit. after she would say to herself, “the odds are just too small, rach. you need to realize that,” another part of her brain (or maybe it was her heart?) would whisper words that would keep her up at night.

_but what if?_

~             ~             ~

rachel didn’t really know how to deal with the possibility, as small as it was, so she mainly just ignored it and treated them like two different people. which, of course, they were. ash and fletcher. the boy she could tell anything to and the one who left her speechless (kind of). the one who made her breathless from laughing so much and the one who only had to shake his hair out or stretch and her chest was heaving.

_blast it._

around melody, she acted as if nothing was wrong. she continued to wiggle her eyebrows at rachel whenever melody would catch her staring at his back or calves. rachel would just glare at her and start taking pictures of trees.

four days after fletcher had approached her for the first time he snuck up on her again. this time it was at the water fountain and rachel was very hot and sweaty and thirsty so she was making some…noises of pleasure. she didn’t think anyone was around so she didn’t hold it in.

she banged her head on the fountain when she heard a cough behind her and an all too familiar voice say, “do you two need a room?”

 _god._ why did she always manage to embarrass herself around him only?

“is it some kind of weird kinky fetish of yours to eavesdrop on people quenching their thirst?”

fletcher looked surprised by her scandalized tone, but then smirked and said with an ominous twinkle in his eye, “well i guess that depends on the type of thirst they’re quenching, if you catch my drift.”

it was official. she  _hated_  talking to this boy. she didn’t like the things he did to her body. like her cheeks were blazing and her palms were sweaty and she simply felt very aware of herself all of the sudden. but she did have an intense competitive side, so she wasn’t going to let him woo her over with a devilish smirk and some perverted comments. no. rachel robertson was better than that. she just hoped she knew how to play hard to get.

so, starting off simple, she shook her head and muttered, “do you talk to all girls like this? or just the ones you want to make sure will  _never_  date you?” she quirked an eyebrow, proud of herself for the subtle challenge and tactful response.  _good girl rach, you’ll have him eating out of the palm of your hand in no time._

fletcher squinted his eyes and he smiled, “are you flirting with me?”

what.

“what?!” rachel squeaked in a  _totally_  non-embarrassing way. “why—i don’t even know  _how_  to flirt!”

fletcher only grinned wider and said, “you may be surprised to find that you do miss robertson—and before you freak out, your lovely sister informed me of your surname.”

rachel stared dumbfounded while fletcher continued like he was a professor and she the student, which was  _not_  a fantasy of hers. not at all.

“you see, your technique is one that many intelligent, if not somewhat naïve, young women use when they are interested in a male. you’re playing hard to get. which is basically saying, ‘hey i dig you, but i’m a prideful sob so i’m gonna make you work for it because your efforts amuse me.’ am i right, or am i right?”

she answered him by walking away shaking her head. fletcher’s laugh was cut off when he realized she wasn’t stopping, so he ran up in front of her, making rachel lurch to a begrudging halt. “okay that was mean of me, how can i make it up to you?”

rachel’s heart leapt because she saw an opportunity, but she wasn’t going to give in at the first chance she got. she was better than that. well, she was at  _least_  going to wait until he brought it up.

“how about start by not talking to me?” rachel started walking again and she felt a pang of disappointment when she didn’t feel his presence beside her.  _he must have given up._  she tried to convince herself that any guy who didn’t pursue her (in a non-stalkerish way of course) wasn’t worth having, but it didn’t help the weight in her gut telling her that she could have just driven away the only shot she would have at being in a relationship any time soon.

“can it be over dinner?”

her head shot up and she whipped around, not caring that her movements looked spastic and strange. “what?” she said, wincing as her voice cracked under the strain of trying to contain her excitement.

“can we not talk over dinner? maybe just message each other?” he asked, shading his eyes from the sun that was shining down on him and grinning.

rachel would have agreed to whatever he said just to keep those gorgeous dimples on his face, but she was confused by his question. “what do you mean message each other over dinner? fletcher, what are you talking about?”

fletcher grinned wider and started making his way toward her, “i mean,  _bedazzledrach12_ ,” he said and rachel’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, “that i want to talk to the girl that i’ve been emailing for the past five months in real life. over dinner. what do you say?”

rachel’s head was spinning from the slow realization that was dawning upon her face, though his close proximity wasn’t helping things either.

“ _ashton?_ ” she whispered, hardly daring to believe it was true. but fletcher’s— _ashton’s_  thousand watt smile was enough of a confirmation for her. “bu-but  _how_? how long have you known?”

ashton’s smile turned gentle and something else that she couldn’t quite place, “well it started when your charming younger sister hacked into your account and started talking to me as well. it was convenient that you lived in virginia because my family are big history buffs, so while they were all doing the “historic jamestown” thing and visiting family, i started working here. i was greatly impressed at how crafty she was, and i thought i had let the cat out of the bag when i told you about our first meeting, because i knew it was you right when you started yelling at me about something called a squints? anyway, i wanted to tell you, but didn’t really know  _how_  so i just kind of…asked you.”

rachel didn’t know whether to kiss melody or kill her, but she knew one thing; there was more to her little sister than just blue eyes and giggles. she raised an eyebrow and said, “so what’s with the names? this would be perfect if i knew that you wouldn’t lie about anything else, but how am i supposed to know?”

ashton’s eyes widened and rachel wanted to take back her harsh tone because he looked like a kicked puppy and it hurt her heart. before she could take it back, he said quickly, “i wasn’t lying! fletcher is my middle name and some people do call me that, but you can just call me ash from now on…if you want. and we could take it slow? by maybe getting dinner?”

he sounded so hopeful and persistent and freaking  _adorable_  that she knew she wasn’t going to say no. she laughed and looked down bashfully, suddenly feeling very shy. after a moment of silence she felt a soft hand on her chin, gently lifting her gaze to look into his big hazel eyes, and for what felt like the tenth time, he asked softly, “dinner?”

rachel blinked and, biting her lip, she nodded slowly, not trying to stop the smile that spread across her face when she saw those dimples she adored so much. ashton dropped his hand from her chin and grabbed her hand instead, sending the butterflies in her tummy into a frenzy.

~             ~             ~

 _one year later_.

“did you know,” ashton breathed, his mouth ghosting down rachel’s neck and sending shivers down her spine, “that i _worship_  your new tattoo?”

rachel couldn’t reply because ashton chose then to nibble and suck at the small ash tree at the base of her collarbone, making her throw her head back against the wall. she could only grip his arms tighter and moan softly, making ashton press closer to her. she ran one hand through his curls, pulling at them slightly when he bit and sucked at a new mark on the tender spot just below her ear, and used the other to rake her nails across his shoulder.

when rachel imagined make-out scenes, it was always either in her room or at the back of a movie theater or at least some place private. but here she was, making out with her boyfriend against the wall that enclosed the pool, a small clump of trees being the only thing shielding them from prying eyes. well, mainly just melody. she had turned downright voyeuristic when rachel had told her she was going out with ashton, peeking in on them at every opportunity.

but having ashton’s lips on her body in a place where anyone could walk in on them was  _so_  much hotter than she had realized. and rachel loved it.

“y-yeah…i know,” she finally managed, and ashton growled and cradled her head in his hands, that were so very large and warm and soft, grazed his thumbs along her jawline and looked directly into her eyes. “did you know,” he said slowly, enunciating each word so that she knew he wanted her to hear what he was about to say, “that i worship  _you_  even more?”

rachel smiled, and cupped one of his cheeks in her hand and moved a stray blond lock of hair that had fallen in front of his eyes, happy that she could do that now without having to ask permission or seeming creepy. “yes, my sweet unicorn, i do.”

ashton made a face and rachel giggled, “why do you call me your  _unicorn_  of all things? it’s kind of emasculating you know.”

rachel sighed exasperatedly, “it’s because unicorns are pure and rare and sweet and gentle and you are all those things and more and i just like unicorns okay? bite me.”

ashton smirked and said, “okay,” before dipping his head and happily obliging, making rachel moan and squirm before they heard the whistle that signaled the end of his break.

“god,  _why_  do i have a job,” ashton groaned, touching foreheads with rachel, who smirked and said, “so you can buy me loads of stuff.”

ashton grunted and pushed himself off the wall, pointing at rachel and muttered gruffly, “don’t move.”

rachel bit her lip, fighting a smile, and waited until he was gone to change into her bathing suit. the only thing that was almost as much fun as making out with ashton irwin was teasing him, and nothing made him more uncomfortable than seeing rachel wet in a bathing suit and not being able to do anything about it.

rachel grinned to herself,  _this was going to be_ so _much fun._

**Author's Note:**

> *Squints is a character from the movie "Sandlot" and in it he had a huge crush on the lifeguard lady who was like 7 years older than him and so he pretended to drown so that when she saved him and performed mouth-to-mouth he kissed her and they ended up married with like a bajillion kids so I guess Melody though it could work for her too. But I guess real life (haha) is not like the movies huh?


End file.
